Chef Mickey or Crystal Palace

[miknminniesfriend]

I am taking my 4 & 6 yo to WDW and we are doing a character meal, which we have not done in the past. They like fab 5 and Pooh characters. Woulkd you rec one meal over the other?

 

[Mickey_Man]

I don't think you can beat the characters of Chef Mickeys, but for me the food is better at the Crystal Palace, and I love the concept of eating inside the Magic Kingdom. Although, Chef Mickeys gives you a great reason to visit the Contemporary and ride the monorail! I am not sure you can go wrong with either place as far as having character interaction.

 

[OhThePain]

If you are planning a character breakfast, either CM or CP are good choices.

If you are planning a character dinner, IMHO, go with CP. The dinner food is much better.

 

[hannahryan]

My kids and my husband and I have always much preferred Chef Mickey's. I think it is much more fun, cool with the monorail going by and we actually prefer the food at CM.

 

[tndisneyfan]

I think the food is better at CP. The characters are fine at both places.

 

[shawnh199]

The food at CP is definitely better and the characters seemed a little less rushed there.

 

[BraveLittleToaster2]

We avoid Chef Mickey's after we went once. It was SO loud!! It also seemed rushed and stressful.

CP is one of our favorites, pooh and friends take time at your table and the food is good. It's much quieter then Chef Mickey's is and a more realxed feel to it which I like. Though we always eat breakfast first thing around 8am when the restaurant is hardly half full yet.

 

[mmsisme4ever]

breakfast at the crystal palace is amazing! And little ones like the characters in pooh bear. The view inside the MK is great too, but the dinner is not the best. It just depends when you're going really and/or if you can go inside the MK. Make reservations fast though!!!

 

[eelkmj01]

It's amazing to me how opinions differ. Chef Mickey's is consistently one of our if not our favorite place to eat!!! We had dinner at Crystal Palace last year and we were left completely flat. I know CP overwhelmingly gets better reviews on the DIS than CM, but not for my family. And I always find it odd that people are annoyed with the "loudness" at CM...

 

[2Tiggies]

I prefer CP - prefer the food and love Pooh and friends too! But Chef Mickey is also great if your kids like Mickey & the gang.

 

[WVParkfan]

Chef Mickey's! Great character interaction, and the "towel twirl." CP sounds great, but I don't think we would enjoy a "Pooh" only character meal.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Not sure when you are going but my opinion is based on an irritating exp we had at cp. We went for lunch in august and they make you wait outside, corralled like pigs waiting to be slaughtered. Okay maybe that's extreme. But it was 100 degrees at noon and everyone with lunch reservations had to wait outside for all the breakfast people to leave and for them to switch over the food. We arrived early, just like we were told and waited 30 minutes outside with 100 other irritated, sweaty, hungry people. Once inside the atmosphere is nice and the food was good but we were too hot to eat. For the same money i'd rather wait inside cr, plus we just enjoy it more. It's like a party and we have it as a must do for every trip.

 

[saraheubanks1]

So hard, we love them both, in fact those are our 2 must dos everytime we go.

 

[moparop]

The food at CP is definitely better and the characters seemed a little less rushed there.

This is exactly my opinion too!

 

[tinkerfan1]

We love Chef Mickey's and try to go there for breakfast on every visit. Crystal Palace is good, too. It's really a matter of personal choice, I think. I don't think you will lose either way. Enjoy!

 

[Pooh&OurHunny]

We love CP and its a must for ever trip. We went to CM for dinner and the food was terrible. We will go back to CM b/c my son loves seeing the Fab 5 and so we will go for breakfast/

 

[KatMark]

For us, it is definitely Crystal Palace over Chef Mickey's -- breakfast only. After two awful meals at Hollywood & Vine and a not so pleasant dinner at Chef Mickey's, we only do lunch/dinner buffets at Biergarten or Cape May Cafe. We prefer Crystal Palace over Chef Mickey's any time.

 

[hardhead]

8 am breakfast reservation for CP!!!! Make sure it's not an extra magic hours day

 

[DisneyCharacter]

8 am breakfast reservation for CP!!!! Make sure it's not an extra magic hours day

I agree! We loved CP at 8am before the park opened--- it was so wonderful to walk down a nearly empty main street! I really liked the atmosphere and food at CP. We also enjoyed CM for breakfast, but if I had to choose just one it would be CP.

 

[Rae&familyxmas05]

We have eaten at both, CM for breakfast our first morning at WDW, and at CP for dinner on our last night, both were fun and the food was good. DD was 3 and my niece was 5, we are doing both again in June.